


The Pelican in her Piety

by Entropy House (AnonEhouse)



Category: Drake's Venture (1980)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Homophobic Language, M/M, Prison, Rape/Non-con References, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-07
Updated: 2012-10-07
Packaged: 2017-11-15 19:12:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/530732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/Entropy%20House
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reincarnated as gangsters during Prohibition, Draconi (Drake) frames Doughty and gets him sentenced to Alcatraz but later regrets it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pelican in her Piety

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a bit of a double pun: Drake's flagship during the circumnavigation was originally named The Pelican. After he executed Doughty on trumped up charges (at the very least, you can't have a conspiracy of one!) he renamed the ship The Golden Hind, after the family crest of Doughty's patron, which... yeah... WHY?
> 
> Alcatraz means 'pelican', Originally named 'La Isla de los Alcatraces,' -“The Island of the Pelicans,” from the archaic Spanish alcatraz, “pelican”, a word which was borrowed originally from Arabic: al-qaṭrās, meaning sea eagle. There was a statue of a pelican over the gates of Alcatraz.

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

"I've got a message from the Dragon."

Doughty coughed as a bit of roll went the wrong way. None of the other prisoners had ever spoken to him at Alcatraz, even when it was allowed during meals. And to start out with _that!_

"You're his man, aren't you?" the other prisoner pressed.

"I was." And much good it had done him. Draconi hadn't listened to his advice, had laughed at the star-charts and finally become furious when Doughty found that Draconi's brother had been cooking the books and shaking down marks for his own benefit. "Leave me alone."

"The Dragon wants you to do something for him."

"I can't. You know I can't." The only time a guard wasn't watching was when you were locked in your cell. Having a cell to himself made Doughty glad he'd been transferred here from Leavenworth. He could stand the silence; it was better than listening to Draconi. Doughty had thought they'd built up an organization together, thought that he could speak his mind. Too late he discovered he was only a soldier in Draconi's eyes – expendable. 

"He says you owe him."

Doughty looked at the man in astonishment. "He framed me to save his brother. If it wasn't for my friends I'd have been executed."

"It wasn't your friends' sob stories that got the governor to commute your sentence, or made the warden send you here." 

"I don't believe you." Doughty managed to keep his expression calm and his voice quiet. He'd worked hard to earn a few privileges and he wasn't going to lose them because of anything Draconi's stooge said. "He wanted me dead."

"Draconi changed his mind."

"Why?"

"His brother tried to take over."

"Ah." Doughty shrugged. It had been in the charts. Not that Draconi ever would let him show them to him. He'd been afraid of Doughty's gift, when he wasn't laughing at him for believing in something more than guns and the almighty dollar. "I take it John's dead."

"You know it. The problem is, the Dragon lost a lot of men during the war."

"Goons are a dime a dozen."

"But lieutenants aren't."

"Since when did the Dragon ever need a lieutenant?"

This time it was the other prisoner's turn to shrug. "He wants you back. And you know the Dragon gets what he wants."

Doughty blinked in disbelief. "Look, I don't even know how he got a message in here, but he sure isn't getting _me_ out. I'm going to keep my nose clean and..."

"Get transferred back to another prison for the rest of your life?"

Doughty fell silent.

"He'll get you out. The escape is set for two days from now."

Doughty didn't even breathe the word, 'escape'. "He's mad. This isn't a county jug. I can't..."

"Shut up. You argue too much. All you gotta do is not panic when all the shooting starts."

"Shooting?"

The other prisoner looked at Doughty with cold eyes. "You're getting out. Just you. Now, keep your mouth shut. Someone will come for you when the time is right."

*********@^@*********

Doughty wished he had access to his charts and tools. He really didn't doubt Draconi's ability to do the impossible. What he doubted was the likelihood of Draconi having a change of heart. He probably wasn't satisfied with a life sentence. He probably thought Doughty couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut, even though he'd given his word.

He was glad of the two days warning, though. He put in a request to see a priest, and took the opportunity to confess all his sins. Not his crimes. He'd already been punished for them. It made him feel better. God would know that while he was no saint, he'd never killed anyone who wasn't trying to kill him. These were hard times; God would understand his flaws.

He was raking up rubbish on the grounds when the gun set in one of the guard towers sounded. He froze, heart pounding as he expected any moment to be shot. A guard grabbed him and shoved him towards the gunfire. Everyone else had fled in the opposite direction. "Get over that fence!" The guard pointed to the no-man's land on the other side of the chain link fence at the island's edge. "There's a boat!"

Doughty obeyed, although the skin on the back of his neck crawled. The other side was a rough and rocky scramble down a sloping cliff. When he reached the ground, he saw a corpse. Shot and then fallen at least fifty feet. He turned resolutely from the body, looking without much hope for the promised boat. He hated boats, anyway.

"HERE!" the voice came from a short distance over the water.

"Draconi?" Doughty stared. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to get you." The Dragon's fiery hair blazed even in the dirty gray fog that crept around the water's edge. He was sitting at ease in a small sailboat, a rich man's toy. "I didn't think you'd trust anyone else."

"And what makes you think I trust you?"

Draconi suddenly laughed. "Because I read your charts. And your diary."

Doughty felt himself flush. "That's done. There's too much history between us."

"Yes." Draconi gave him an odd look. "The bribes I paid weren't enough to keep everyone sitting on their hands all day. Are you coming with me, or not?" He nodded to the corpse. "That's you as far as the inmates and most of the guards know. By the time they know they've been tricked, they'll probably try to cover up your escape." Draconi grinned. "I've paid into all their bank accounts, so if they say anything they'll look guilty. Come away and I'll give you a clean start... if that's what you want."

"I don't want to go anywhere with you." But Doughty got into the boat. What else could he do? 

"But you'll come, anyway."

"Yes." Doughty looked at all the complicated fittings and ropes. "When did you learn to sail?"

"A long time ago." Draconi expertly got the little ship started away from the island. Soon they were lost in the fog, which didn't seem to bother him a bit.

"Tom?"

"What?" Doughty was even more disconcerted by the hesitant tone of Draconi's voice. The Dragon _never_ hesitated.

"When you were sentenced, I was in the courtroom."

"Yes, I know." At the time he'd been unable to decide whether it was braggadocio or silent threat. There were worse things than execution, they both knew. 

"When the sentence was passed..."

"What? You felt remorse? You suddenly realized that you'd made a mistake?" Doughty laughed. "I don't believe it."

"No. I just... remembered." Draconi gave him another odd look. "We were friends once."

"I thought so, at one time."

"You don't understand."

"You're confusing the hell out of me. Now, look, if you wanted to kill me personally and dump me overboard, I wish you'd hurry up. I'm getting seasick."

"You were _always_ my friend!" Draconi lashed the wheel down and came to Doughty, taking his hands in both of his own. "You spoke to the Queen for me. You helped plan my voyage. You fought savages for me. And... you took communion with me before I had you executed."

Doughty swallowed hard. Draconi wasn't joking. Poor bastard. He'd finally gone off his trolley. Too much bathtub gin, and all those fits of rage... poor bastard. Doughty couldn't stay angry with him any longer. "Yes, yes, of course I did."

Draconi sighed. "You think me mad. Well, that's not new, either." Draconi released Doughty's hands and stood. "This is new, though. I'm going to trust you, Tom. My organization is a mess, but my money's intact. I can buy new men, set up a new gang, even move somewhere else, if you want. Or... we can go away, just the two of us."

"What?" Draconi giving up power and influence? "Why?"

"I thought of you, Thomas. In prison. I... it made me sick with jealousy when I thought that other men were..."

Doughty shook his head. "Jealousy? You called me a stupid faggot the one time I said I liked you. Now, suddenly you're like me and you want me? Next thing you know, you'll be saying you love me."

There was a long moment of relative silence, in which the wind in the sails and the waves at the hull were the only sounds. Then Draconi drew a deep breath. "I never admitted it, but I do. Not any other men, Thomas. Just you. It's always only been you for me."

This was simply absurd. That direct gaze didn't seem to belong to a madman, but the words were mad. Who ever heard of such a thing? Sure, there were men like Doughty, who didn't like women, but the Dragon wasn't one of them. "I'm so wonderful that you'd let me fuck you, is that it?"

Draconi shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know that I could do that."

Doughty was becoming angry again. "So what is it, then? You've become bored with women and want to try something new and exciting? You figure I'd be honored to be fucked on clean sheets by you after being raped in prison by filthy maniacs?"

"No, no, damn it, Thomas, you always take things the wrong way. I just... want us to be together and ... try to ... learn from the past. I have."

Doughty sighed. "I'm too tired for this, Draconi. I don't know what you want. I don't even know who you are, anymore."

"I know," Draconi said softly. 

There was another long moment of quiet before Doughty sighed again. "All right, I'll go with you. Somewhere else. And... I'd like to do something honest. Buy a farm. Buy a factory. I don't know. Maybe buy a hotel."

Draconi grinned. "All right." He spun the wheel and the ship heeled over and caught a brisk breeze, leaping suddenly swift across the water. "Let the wind take us where it will."

Doughty looked up at Draconi standing straight and proud at the wheel and smiled. What the hell. He always did like adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> Alcatraz: I did a LOT of research on this and threw out nearly all of it, but I'm gonna use this one bit!  
> #1. April 27, 1936 - While working his job burning trash at the incinerator, Joe Bowers began climbing up and over the chain link fence at the island's edge. After refusing orders to climb back down, Bowers was shot by a correctional officer stationed in the West road guard tower, then fell about 50-100 feet to the shore below. He died from his injuries.


End file.
